Band of Brothers: They Helped Defeat Hitler (Episode 6: Bastogne)

NOTE: "Band of Brothers" is a highly realistic World War Two miniseries from HBO in 2001. Part of the "realism" is the profanity used; so, if you are sensitive to such language, the miniseries is definitely not for you. Also, there are numerous highly bloody scenes of killed or wounded soldiers, and scenes of people in a concentration camp, who have been the subject of horrendous treatment. So here too, if you are sensitive to these kinds of scenes, it is probably a good thing if you skip viewing the miniseries. As for this article and those I'll be doing about the miniseries, I have tried to keep things from being too blatant.

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This very realistic HBO series is based on the book "Band of Brothers" by historian Stephen Ambrose. Remember, this is NOT a documentary nor an actual reenactment, but rather a series with characters representing the actual men, with their real names, of East Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The series does present events and actions that the men of Easy Company related to Stephen Ambrose, the historian who wrote the book. In the book's "Acknowledgements and Sources," Ambrose writes that he "circulated the manuscript of this book to the men of Easy Company." He goes on to say there were criticisms, corrections and suggestions offered by the men, and that Richard Winters and Carwood Lipton were heavily involved in reviewing the book, the original publication of which was in 1992, while the first airing of the miniseries was in 2001. 

 

As I write about this series, I'll likely use a man's army rank on occasion, but for the most part, I'll use last names, just as the men do. The cast of this series is so large, I decided not to list it, as it would have been overwhelming, although I did decide to list just a few names of the cast who portrayed the men most seen, most heard and most heard about in the stories presented in this series. Believe me, the whole cast is likely 8 or 10 times as large as those I list here, and everyone did a great job.

 

Partial Cast

 

Damian Lewis as Lieutenant, then Captain, then Major Richard Winters

Ron Livingston as Lieutenant, then Captain Lewis Nixon

Scott Grimes as Private, then Sergeant Donald Malarkey 

Shane Taylor as Medic Eugene "Doc" Roe

Donnie Wahlberg as Sergeant Carwood Lipton 

Michael Cudlitz as Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman

Frank John Hughes as Sergeant Bill "Wild Bill" Guarnere

Rick Gomez as Technician 4th Grade George Luz

Kirk Acevedo as Staff Sergeant Joe Toye

James Madio as Technician 4th Grade Frank Perconte

Eion Bailey as Private David Kenyon Webster

Dexter Fletcher as Sergeant John Martin

Ross McCall as Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Liebgott

Neal McDonough as Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton

Nicholas Aaron as Private Robert "Popeye" Wynn 

David Schwimmer as Lieutenant, then Captain Herbert Sobel 

 

Here is the link to the previous article as Episode 5: Crossroads

 

https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2023/09/band-of-brothers-they-helped-defeat.html?zx=bc3e5930eb4402e 

 

 

(Note: The terrain of the Ardennes was heavily forested and often rough. Vehicles, including tanks, had few options to move, except on roads, which weren't all that plentiful in the region, and those that existed tended to be narrow; plus, it was winter, and it often snowed. In 1940, German forces broke through relatively sparse French forces in this region and moved on to cut off Allied forces and trap them at Dunkirk. The German idea in late 1944 was similar, and indeed, the American forces were stretched, and many troops had little or no combat experience. Hitler had managed to scrape together a formidable force to attack the Americans in this area, but while the Germans achieved some successes, they met tough opposition from the Americans, and the German supply situation was poor, as in a certain way, they had too many troops and vehicles for such a limited number of roads. While the German Tiger tanks were fearsome weapons, they were also big and heavy; and thus, they weren't ideal for navigating the poor road system in the Ardennes. In 1940, the German armored force that helped achieve a breakthrough was done with much lighter tanks.)   

This episode opens with medic Doc Roe wandering through the forest and we eventually see him approaching Captain Winters, who has to break thick ice off of some water in order to try and shave. Winters actually takes a young German soldier prisoner, as the young man wanders inside the American line to "empty himself of yesterday's rations" (the 'line,' such as it is a line, is irregular, with neither side being totally sure where the enemy is, as they are dug in and snow had fallen. General McAuliffe (played by William Armstrong), the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division, stops to hear from 2nd Battalion about the true situation. Robert Strayer (played by Phil McKee), the battalion commander, and Captain Nixon tell him about gaps in the line, low supplies of food and ammunition, and lack of proper winter clothing. McAuliffe, a no nonsense guy, tells them they have to close the line somehow and hold on until the weather improves, so that supplies can be airdropped to the forces in Bastogne. 

 

The Germans periodically put the Americans under artillery fire, with wood splinters providing another dangerous aspect to these bombardments, as when the shells explode, they destroy parts of the many trees, sending splinters both large and small flying about to cause painful injuries or even death. During various parts of this episode, we see some of the things that happen to the men, who are treated by Doc Roe and Ralph Spina (played by Tony Devlin), Easy Company's medics team: Joe Toye has trench foot, and when he removed his boots to dry his feet and change socks, the boots were destroyed by one of the artillery shells, but Doc Roe gets Toye another pair of boots; Bill Guarnere really does have gonorrhea; Buck Compton continues to struggle with his mental health, as the stresses of the last six months have taken a toll; "Smokey" Gordon (played by Ben Caplan) is seriously wounded by a bullet that enters one shoulder and exits through the other, leaving him paralyzed (this was the end of the war for Gordon and he spent a lot of time in hospitals, and he gradually overcame the paralysis); Alex Penkala (played by Tim Matthews) was lightly wounded, but bandaged up by Doc Roe, Harry Welsh (played by Rick Warden), in a foolish move, starts a small campfire, which Winters tells him is a bad idea, but Welsh says, "Just for a couple of minutes ... we're in a dell" (dell=small hollow), but the fire draws the attention of German artillery and mortars and shells begin landing all around, with Welsh being wounded in the thigh (he spent time in the hospital, before returning to the unit a little later in the war); Skinny Sisk is wounded in the leg with some wood splinters caused by one of the exploding shells, and he is taken to the medical facility in the interior of Bastogne, where he is attended by two nurses, one of whom gives him a glass of whiskey for the pain, and she strokes his head, bringing Sisk to tell Doc Roe, "I'm in heaven Doc!"; Private John Julian (played by Marc Ryan-Jordan) is shot and killed while on a patrol with some other men from the company, with "Babe" Heffron (played by Robin Laing) coming in to try to save his close friend Julian, but he couldn't get to him, as each time he tried, the German fire would intensify. Julian's death sends Heffron's emotions reeling, as Heffron and Julian had promised one another that if one was killed, the survivor would take the killed man's belongings to his mother. 

 

Throughout the first half of the episode, Doc Roe keeps scrounging medical supplies from any of the men, because he is so short of many things. In a trip into the heart of Bastogne, he sees a nurse named Renee (played by Lucie Jeanne), and he is able to get a box of supplies from her. On another trip into town, Doc tries to help Renee and another nurse, Anna (played by Rebecca Okot), save a wounded soldier's life, but the man dies. Doc Roe is visibly angry and Renee sheds some tears. Physical tiredness is now complicated by frustration and anger.

 

Colonel Sink (played by Dale Dye), the regimental commander, comes to Easy Company and tells the men of a German demand for surrender and General McAuliffe's one word answer to the Germans of "Nuts!" The men laugh and Dye leaves, with McAuliffe's message having inspired the men to continue to resist. (Note: McAuliffe's reply to the German surrender demand has gone down in history as one of the great stories of World War Two and the 101st Airborne's tenacious defense of Bastogne is one of the most famous military achievements in American history.) 

 

After days of snow and fog, the skies clear and American aircraft drop supplies into Bastogne. Doc Roe struggles with the stresses of killed and wounded men and Captain Winters sends Roe into Bastogne for what he thinks will be a brief rest and some hot food. Instead, the Luftwaffe bombs the town and Roe sees the building used as a medical facility get hit. When he goes in, he sees Renee dead in the rubble. He goes back to Easy Company's perimeter around the outskirts of the town. He finds Heffron in a foxhole and for the first time, Doc calls Heffron by his nickname, Babe, and this cheers the young man (up to this point, Doc Roe typically calls the men by their last names, although he would sometimes call Heffron by his proper first name, Edward, until finally one day, a stressed Heffron snaps at Roe and tells him to stop calling him Edward, "only the goddamn nuns call me Edward." 

 

Photo is of the HBO 2015 Blu-Ray Miniseries release ... 

WORD HISTORY:

Nurse-This word is related to "nourish," "nurture" and "nutrition," all Latin-derived words borrowed by English from French, and to "nutrient," another Latin word borrowed directly from that language. "Nurse" goes back to Indo European "(s)neu," which meant "to flow," and then an extended form "(s)neutri," which meant "a wet nurse, a woman who suckles a child." This gave Latin the verb "nutrire," which meant "to nurse a child, to feed, to foster," and this produced the Latin noun "nutrix," "a wet nurse," which produced the adjective "nutricius," meaning "relating to suckling:" thus also, "relating to giving nourishment," which then gave Latin the noun "nutricia," meaning "a nurse, one who helps in raising a child," and this passed to Old French as "norrice," meaning "a wet nurse, a nanny," and English borrowed the word circa 1200 with all sorts of spellings, including: "norice," "nurrice," "nurice," "noryse," and meaning "a wet nurse, a nanny, a foster mother." The modern form of the word began around 1400, but other spellings remained for a time. The meaning of "wet nurse" expanded to the more general, "woman who helps in the upbringing of children" in the early 1500s. The second half of the 1500s saw the word applied to "one who provides care for sick, elderly or injured people," and the idea of "taking care of children" also began to be applied to "tending to young plants." The verb form started as "norishen" and "nurshen" and meant "to suckle a child," but it also could mean "to help raise a child or children," and following the noun, the verb also added the meaning "to care for the sick or infirm."                  .